Author
Topic: Warming Fermenters a Few Degrees (Read 2232 times)

I foolishly set up for a lager batch this weekend without thinking about the fact that I already have a couple ales in the fermentation chamber. My garage is holding about 2°C, so I don't need to warm it too much above ambient, and I only need to worry about it for maybe 4-7 days before it can go in the chamber with the ales.

Once fermentation kicks in it should help with keeping the temps up, but I'm wondering if anyone has a proven solution for warming a fermenter without temperature control. Warm water bath? Chemical hot packs? Move it in and out of the fermentation chamber a hundred times a day?

I foolishly set up for a lager batch this weekend without thinking about the fact that I already have a couple ales in the fermentation chamber. My garage is holding about 2°C, so I don't need to warm it too much above ambient, and I only need to worry about it for maybe 4-7 days before it can go in the chamber with the ales.

Once fermentation kicks in it should help with keeping the temps up, but I'm wondering if anyone has a proven solution for warming a fermenter without temperature control. Warm water bath? Chemical hot packs? Move it in and out of the fermentation chamber a hundred times a day?

Standard $ 25-35 aquarium heaters have temperature ranges that do not go much below 70 F. The one I have theoretically goes down to 65 F but in fact goes down only as far as 67 F. Maybe you could use a water bath for your ales and put your lager into your fermenter?

I've never used the timer Denny refers to, but I can imagine that it would work.

Standard $ 25-35 aquarium heaters have temperature ranges that do not go much below 70 F. The one I have theoretically goes down to 65 F but in fact goes down only as far as 67 F. Maybe you could use a water bath for your ales and put your lager into your fermenter?

I'm going to guess that if you get a smaller heater for the waterbath you use, it won't be capable of heating the whole volume to a full 70F. Not sure if you'd risk burning it out doing that, though.

Edited to add: Aquarium heaters also usually are meant to be raising the tank temp above normal room temperature. If you've got this out in a 2C garage, you're sure to not be able to get the water bath as warm with a heater as you would in a 21C house.

Running it for 15 min should heat 15 gal of water/beer by about 5°C, which is a pretty wide range, but not awful. If I can set it to run for 5-10 min instead, then that's perfect. I'll just have to take another look at my timer when I get home.

I put a heating pad near the fermentor and cover the whole thing with a blanket. I tape a meat thermometer with a long wired probe to the other side of the fermentor and insulate it so I can occasionally monitor the temperature.

Love these ideas! I needed to heat my stout up a few degrees to push the final gravity down a couple of more points. It was in my basement and fermenting slowly at 60 F and wanted it up around 65. I keep my carboys in plastic oil catchpans in case of spills or other disasters and just added some warm water. (Better Bottle, not glass) In about an hour I was up to 65 and changed the water every 6 hrs or so for two days. That brought my SG down a couple of points to where I wanted it.But I like the fish heater idea and will play with that.

I've started using a Brew Belt on my last few brews, and I've been pretty happy with it so far. I've gotten 3-gallons of beer in both a 6-gallon carboy and a 6.5 gallon bucket pretty much dead-on 8 degrees F above ambient every time.

MY LHBS has been promoting the Thermovest. They have been using it in their shop(which is based out of a warehouse) in MA, where it has been fridgidly cold before today. might be worth looking in to, altho they seem expensive.

Logged

Granite Coast Brewing Company.Building a clone of The Electric Brewery to use as a pilot system for new recipes!